


Scorched Earth Policy

by newtypeshadow



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Mob, BAMF Bucky Barnes, Beta Bucky Barnes, Canon-Typical Violence, Identity Porn, If you got through Natasha's intro in The Avengers you'll be fine, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Mob Boss Steve Rogers, Multi, Nuke It From Orbit Mentality, Omega Tony Stark, Rescue Missions, School of Hard Knocks, That sounds way darker than the few sentences in the fic I'm tagging for, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Vigilante Justice, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, self-rescuing princesses, spoilers in the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26242351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newtypeshadow/pseuds/newtypeshadow
Summary: Kidnapping the beta lover of the Captain, leader of the powerful Avengers mafia? Big mistake.Kidnapping the Captain's beta when that beta is Bucky Barnes? Bigger mistake.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 41
Kudos: 348
Collections: Stuckony Summer Stocking 2020, Tony-involved Omegaverse Fics, betaverse





	Scorched Earth Policy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seleneaurora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seleneaurora/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [seleneaurora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seleneaurora/pseuds/seleneaurora) in the [stuckony_summer_stocking_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stuckony_summer_stocking_2020) collection. 



> [seleneaurora](/users/seleneaurora) requested "Established Stuckony, one of the three is kidnapped", and also mentioned liking Rescue Missions, Identity Porn, protective and BAMF characters, and smart Bucky. How could I resist?
> 
> Thanks to [swtalmnd](/users/swtalmnd) for betaing! ♥ Any mistakes you find are mine.

"You kidnapped me to hurt _Steve?_ " Bucky cries from the chair he's tied to in the middle of a forbidding cell. He looks like he's barely holding back tears. "He's just an artist! Why would you hurt him?"

"Your 'nice guy' alpha is the head of the Avengers—didja know that?" asks the brute squad's ringleader. "Most dangerous mob in New York? Think they own the place?"

Bucky's shock is met with varying levels of sadistic amusement from the four armed men in the cell.

Steve and Tony have seen each of them put their hands on Bucky, either to hit or grope as a scare tactic, but remain powerless to intervene. JARVIS hasn't finished tracing the video feed Hammer sent them to gloat about kidnapping their beta.

Hammer promises that once Steve has ceded the Avengers' territory in Brooklyn to Hammer's mob, he'll return Bucky. "Well-used, of course. He's a pretty piece of ass. Good job catching that one. Won't be worth much when we're done with him… But you know, the sooner you give me what I want, the sooner I can give you what you want. How ruined he gets is in your hands, El Capitan."

Even if they cede the territory tonight and reclaim it tomorrow after getting Bucky back, the damage to the Captain's reputation— _Steve's_ reputation—will take years to undo. Seven years ago, the Captain and his Avengers took control of the city from the families who'd turned it into a hellhole. The bloodbath rid the community of its most predatory elements, cemented the Captain's power, and earned his fledgling mafia a city of grateful citizens. Lately though, various would-be mobs have started cropping up. Seeing how much they can get away with without challenging the Avengers directly. Steve has shown mercy—and Hammer took it for weakness.

And then he took Bucky.

"Found him," Tony says, over the asshole telling Bucky, _"Hammer's gonna own this city by the time we're done with you."_ He and Steve shoot to their feet, already armed and ready to storm the place. They rush to the car, where Happy is waiting to speed them off to Bucky's rescue.

They leave the laptop sitting on the kitchen table, playing the feed of Bucky's torture at the hands of _their_ enemies. They should've told Bucky about their ties to the Avengers before taking their courtship to the next level and asking him to move in.

If Bucky hadn't been here, he wouldn't have told Tony to run, or let himself be captured to keep the thugs who broke in from going after his omega.

The video feed is playing to an empty house when, less than a minute after Steve and Tony rush out, the near-sobs of Bucky Barnes, humble veteran and seemingly ordinary beta, cease. "So your boss is Justin Hammer," he says without a trace of fear, "and he wanted to hurt Steve by putting _Tony_ in this goddamned chair, and doin' to him what you did to all those other omegas whose suffering I can smell? Thank you for telling me."

* * *

When Steve, Tony, and the rest of their heavy hitters pull up to the location JARVIS traced, no one is guarding it. Sloppy.

The building reeks of distressed omegas and betas, and of alpha aggression… But the halls are quiet. Too quiet.

They soon stumble upon a body: an alpha, one of Hammer's men. Clean headshot, long range.

"Died before he knew he was in danger," Sam mutters, motioning at the man's holstered weapon and the bullet's entry point.

The Avengers fan out to search the building. Every room that stinks of distress is empty. Every hallway is filled with Hammer's dead—and _all_ of Hammer's people here are dead. Steve and Tony are terrified Bucky's body will be among them.

Tony finds the security room in hopes of locating Bucky through the building's numerous cameras, but every feed has gone dark.

Every feed but the one from Bucky's cell.

The door is open. Bucky's chair is in pieces. The goons who terrorized him are sprawled on the floor, dead and relieved of their weapons.

Bucky is gone.

"I've seen this before," Natasha says from where she's standing guard while Tony searches their computer systems. "Do you have a picture of Bucky?"

Tony's surprised she missed the picture Steve passed around the group, until he remembers she's been on bodyguard detail, glued to his side, since he burst into Steve's office hours ago. He shows her his lock screen without comment: him, Steve, and Bucky on the day they asked Bucky to move in. Steve is in alpha red, Bucky in beta blue, and Tony in omega gold. They're all holding each other close and smiling fit to break their faces. JARVIS took the photo from a camera in the kitchen.

"That's Bucky?" she asks, pointing.

"That's him."

Natasha raises an eyebrow. "He seemed scared in the video you saw? Crying? Asked a lot of questions? Who they were, why they took him, who sent them?"

Tony shudders at the memory and nods. "Do you think he's still alive?"

Incongruously, Natasha smiles. "Yasha is fine," she says, patting Tony's shoulder. "He taught me that interrogation technique. When they told him what he wanted to know, he left."

The sound of a gunshot lances through Tony's burgeoning hope. "Bucky!" He rushes out of the security room and down a corridor toward the sound. He finds Clint and Coulson taking cover from a hallway empty of all but corpses. "Bucky?" Tony calls hesitantly.

"Tony?" Bucky answers from somewhere down the hallway.

"It's him—stand down," Tony orders, already pelting down the hallway. "Bucky, wh—" He yelps as Bucky appears out of _nowhere_ and sweeps him up in a relieved hug.

"You got away," Bucky says with audible relief. "You found Steve?"

"Yeah, he's here." Tony huffs a wry laugh into Bucky's chest, but can't tear his eyes from Bucky's face. "We came to rescue you."

"Bucky!" Steve shouts from the opposite end of the hallway—all the warning they get before they're both enveloped in his arms.

"Hey, Steve," Bucky says, leaning back to rest his head on Steve's shoulder. "Heard you're the cavalry."

Steve snorts. "Something like that. Those charges downstairs you?"

"I have a scorched earth policy for organizations like this one."

"You always were protective of omegas," Natasha says from behind Tony.

Tony didn't think Bucky could smile any wider, but he was wrong. "Natalia! You look good for a dead woman."

She shrugs, mirth in her eyes. "Convenient how you forgot to check me for vital signs. It's good to see you again."

Tony pulls away just enough for Bucky to give her a one-armed hug; he's not ready to yield Bucky's other hand, not when he feared he'd never hold it again.

Steve hasn't let go of Bucky either, though he's barking orders to get everyone out of the building. "It's rigged to explode. We don't wanna be here when it does."

* * *

A safe distance away, Steve, Bucky, and Tony lean against the SUV and watch the building burn.

"Dr. Palmer says the captives all made it to the hospital," Steve tells Bucky, hanging up his phone. "They're getting treatment. Giving statements. They'll get to go home because of you." His mouth quirks in a wry grin. "They're saying the Captain sent his Soldier to rescue a beta, with instructions to free and avenge the rest of them while he was at it. Know anything about that?"

Bucky winces. "I hope that was okay."

"You kidding? It's perfect." Steve bumps his shoulder affectionately.

Tony holds out his phone. "Hammer's got one more property like this one. Wanna take the scenic route home?"

"Buck?"

Bucky's slow grin is deliciously dangerous. "Sounds good. Like I said: I have a scorched earth policy for organizations like Hammer's."

Steve's smile is all teeth. "It's been a while since I wiped out a rival mob. Let's see if I've lost my touch." He slides into the car, followed by Bucky and Tony. "I'll send some people after the stragglers. Shouldn't take too long to mop up."

It doesn't.

Within six hours of kidnapping the Captain's beta, the man he "sent" to retaliate wipes out Hammer's entire mafia almost single-handedly. Instead of weakening the Captain's standing, the kidnapping cements his reputation as a mob boss not to be fucked with.

No one wants him to call in his Soldier.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed the fic! If you did, kudos and comments are the best way to let me know. ^_^ ♥


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